In The Aeroplane revisited


We've reached that radian of the endless spiral of regurgitating revolutions where youtube pukes out covers and analyses of The Aeroplane Over The Sea. That's not me, it's totally youtube. Maybe Jeff Magnum felt like he needed some attention and paid someone to bump him up the algorithm rankings, i don't know. What i do know is the original is unimprovable upon. 

Sorry, but you can't honestly tell me the meaning is transferrable, because this is 100% Jeff Magnum's inner monologue. You can understand THAT it means something, but you and i can't communicate in this language. I'm reluctant to make the comparison, but it's a bit like Cobain in that the words obviously fit together like that, but they don't mean what they say. They don't mean the same thing if YOU say them. Or, like, sure you can cover a Cake song, but you'll just come across as a douchebag if you do. All this lofi diy gutter folk is like that, much more than any other genre. These aren't universal ideas, this is deeply personal and idiomatic stuff.

My wife was telling me about the Nashville Christmas explosion, and how it's incredibly disconcerting. It is, but the circumstances do point to the classic arc of depression and suicide with a tinge of luddite dissatisfaction, albeit confusingly grandiose. 

Why do these things coincide? I don't know. Is it a fever dream romance with Anne Frank, or is she just one of the characters in this hallucinatory nightmare? Sure, why not both? The beauty of surrealism is that it means what you think it means. The downside is that most people want validation for their interpretations; it can't be meaningful unless you tell me i'm really on to something. That's nonsense. You know it's nonsense, because Magnum's literal reaction was "i'm not an idea. I'm a person who clearly wants to be left alone." Seriously, can you imagine if 10,000 people just suddenly started downloading my nonsense albums and went to town with the schizophrenia subplot lurking under the surface? I can, it's terrifying. 

Haaaa, here's a fun image, Neutral Milk Hotel covering The Boomtown Rats' Living In An (Avery) Island. 

No, people just want to be in a cult. They'll make up a cult if one's not available. I don't get it. It's a great album, but it's Jeff Magnum's album. Go write your own and let me hear Jeff sing this one. Then let me hear your album, in your words, with your personality. I'd like that better.

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